TAG Heuer reliant on ‘millions’ of Apple Watch sales

TAG Heuer is pinning its hopes on a wildly successful year for Apple Watch, so that its as-yet-unreleased Android timepiece will attract some of the spill-over custom.

That’s according to Jean-Claude Biver, head of watch-making activities at TAG Heuer’s owner, LVMH.

He’s quoted by Bloomberg as saying: “I hope [Apple] sells millions and millions and millions of them. The more they sell the more a few people will want something different and come to TAG Heuer.”

It might sound a little weird, but there’s some pretty decent logic behind Biver’s thoughts, which can compare to that of the Irish whiskey industry’s burgeoning worldwide appeal at the moment.

Twenty years ago Irish whiskey was a mere afterthought in comparison to Scotch. Then Jameson started absolutely killing it with marketing, bringing the whole industry up several notches.

Rival Irish whiskey companies didn’t say, ‘hang on, we need to outdo Jameson’, instead they realised that although their giant competitor was growing significantly, so was their market, within which they could all profit.

TAG Heuer needs Apple Watch to build up market

In this instance, Biver suggests the same for the smartwatch industry, hoping that Apple’s ridiculously popular Watch attracts a new younger generation of consumers that have never worn timepieces before.

That, as a concept, is quite funny to think about. There is an entire generation, perhaps two actually, that haven’t ever worn watches. Nokia’s mobile phones did away with them when I was in school, and that trend certainly hasn’t changed since.

TAG Heuer’s watch is expected to have 40 hours of battery life. A helpful tip for those who never had a watch before, you can track those 40 hours by looking at your wrist.

It’s expected to become available this winter and cost around US$1,400, significantly more expensive than Apple’s lower-end models, but a pittance of what its higher-end ones cost.

And, considering it has the TAG brand, and input from Google and Intel, it could well be a little gem of a product.